Frequent crashes after MacBookPro firmware update

[Andy Thomson]

Anyone else experiencing this? After successfully updating the firmware as prompted by apple yesterday, AC10 is crashing on me hourly.....not exactly, but more or less...

[Thomas Holm]

I've heard you're not alone...
I'd recommend following the MacFixit threads on this topic.
http://www.macfixit.com/

[Chazz]

It's only been one full day of work since I applied the firmware update but so far, my system has been, as usual, rock solid.

Side note: I did the firmware update in conjunction with a 1 GB RAM upgrade (bringing my system to its max of 2GB) and this has really helped with the usability of the machine for heavy lifting of AC and 10 other apps running concurrently. I'm envious that the new core 2 duo machines have a max of 3 GB.

[Andy Thomson]

This appears to be something that kills rock solid stability. Place a level marker, and open it's dialogue....


Crashes consistently for me, I will check the link, thanks Thomas. This is embarrassing, here I am arguing with our partners of the superiority with the mac, I am about to go into a meeting, and so far this machine has crashed 6 times. Just bum luck.

Thomas, that site says:

"Not required for Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros Note that (although Apple makes no mention of the fact) EFI Firmware Update 1.2 is not applicable to Core 2 Duo-based MacBook Pros."

Why was I prompted to download it then, and why did it install correctly, only to give me grief now?

[Andy Thomson]

Thomas, the 'resetting PRAM thread' is available to paying subscribers only, argghh. Could you possibly PM me the content?

Thx,

A

[Thomas Holm]

Sorry, 'm not a subscriber, it was there earlier today when I posted. I can' remember the details of course. It was something about enabling the root user with Netinfo before applying the firmware update as root. Sort of scary if you ask me. But I'd bark like h*ll on my dealer if I were you.

Since I don't have access, I cant PM you anything. I try to check in on Macfixit regularly.
Lacking that I'd check Google, of course, and
macsurfer http://www.macsurfer.com/
macosxhints http://www.macosxhints.com/
accelerate your mac http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/
and sometimes
macwindows http://www.macwindows.com/

Mac problems – and possible solutions – usually surface on one or the other of these sites eventually.

[Thomas Holm]

andyro wrote:
Thomas, that site says:

"Not required for Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros Note that (although Apple makes no mention of the fact) EFI Firmware Update 1.2 is not applicable to Core 2 Duo-based MacBook Pros."?

Weird. I have one. (A Core 2 Duo MacBookPro, that is). The Software update tells me everything is up-to-date, and I haven't touched the firmware.

If you get this crash in Archicad only, it may not be a system problem. On the other hand, it might. I think I'd try Onyx or CacheCleaner or AppleJack(runs in Unix single-user mode!) and clean (even "deep-clean") out all caches, and then perhaps re-install the Wibu key drivers. They are weird.

If I for example pull out the Wkey when my MBP is sleeping, it hangs in some half-wake state that requires a forced shutdown (press/hold the power key), but still is wake enough to heat up the machine to a dangerous level. I noticed that the other day when I opened my bag and found a VERY hot machine with fans running full speed to no avail - every vent was covered by the bag, of course. Had I not stopped it, I don't know what had expired first. Hopefully the batteries. Otherwise the machine would have melted, I think!

[__archiben]

andyro wrote:
This appears to be something that kills rock solid stability. Place a level marker, and open it's dialogue....

andy - i did my firmware update just over a week ago and haven't experienced anything like you describe. those level markers still giving you trouble, eh?!

~/archiben